In yet another episode of
alleged law breaking,
Microsoft failed to inform federal judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly that it had
lobbied members of Congress in relation to its ongoing antitrust case. In
its defense, Microsoft made the flaccid excuse that it did this because AT&T did
the same thing in its antitrust case back in the early 80's.

In related news, Microsoft
sought to stop the
media and the public from hearing pre-trial witness interviews related to the
ongoing antitrust case. Microsoft no doubt fears that if these interviews
are held in open court, it will serve as a public relations fiasco.

In more antitrust news, Microsoft
suffered a
defeat in the proposed settlement of the private class-action lawsuits.
The judge agreed with the opponents and ruled that the proposed deal would be
anticompetitive. He added that the $1 billion value did not fall into "the
range of possible approval." This could prove to be very expensive for
Microsoft.

On Thursday, VHJ reported the possible
threat of "Lindows" to Microsoft.
Microsoft seems to be taking this seriously as it has
filed a
lawsuit against Lindows, a company that produces a Linux distribution of the
same name that is designed to run both Linux and Windows programs.
Microsoft contends that the company is trying to confuse Lindows with Windows.
The suit asks the court to order the start-up to stop using the Lindows name and
also seeks unspecified monetary damages. Lindows has now responded with an
open letter
to Bill Gates which also shows the logos side by side. I have to say, I
can't see the confusion.

Also on Thursday, VHJ reported on an
online poll fraud by Microsoft. ZDNet ran that poll and is now running
another: "Do you plan to use
Linux in 2002?" ZDNet asks about Linux use at home, at work, both, or
neither. Currently, the "both" option is way out in front with 64% of the
vote [ed: interesting, considering the generally lower level of knowledgeable
and experienced readers the struggling ZDNet is sometimes associated with].
It will be interesting to see if this trend continues and if Microsoft is able
to resist meddling again before the poll closes on Jan 27.